Babysitting Yugi
by Midna Azusa
Summary: When Yugi's family can't get home on time, Yami gets stuck babysitting. Things could get ugly. Mild vaseshipping later on.
1. Chapter 1

**This is just some crazy idea my sister gave me. I hope you like it! I don't own YuGiOh because I'm not Kazuki Takahashi.**

Yami groaned in annoyance as he put down the phone. All of his friends were busy; Jonouchi was visiting his sister, Honda was tagging along (whether Jonouchi liked it or not), and Seto was babysitting little Yugi Mutou while his mother and grandfather visited sick relatives on the other side of the country (he had been babysitting for the last few days, and the family wasn't due back until tonight). Meanwhile, Yami had nothing to do. Except avoid that annoying girl who had moved into the house next door last week.

Speaking of that girl, wasn't it just Yami's luck that he would run into her when he was all alone?

"Hey, Yami!" Yami groaned when he heard that voice; he hardly knew the girl, but Seto—who was in her class at school—said that she was a pest. Then again, Seto thought everyone was a pest. Still, his judgment on this one seemed spot-on.

Yami turned to see a spiky-haired Egyptian girl standing behind him. She was wearing a blue tube top and a matching skirt. Her green eyes gleamed with excitement as she looked at Yami. She didn't know that Yami hated her.

"Hello, Mana. How are you?" Yami forced himself to be polite.

"I'm great, aside from being bored. What about you? Where are your friends? It's weird seeing you without them."

Yami wanted so badly to lie, but this girl always knew when he did. "They're busy right now," he mumbled.

Mana's eyes lit up. "Great! Maybe we can hang out then!"

Yami winced. That was not something he wanted to do. At all.

He was spared from answering when his phone rang. He answered; it was Seto.

"Kame Game Shop. Get over here. Now." With that, he hung up.

Completely baffled, Yami turned to Mana and told her he couldn't hang out with her; something had just come up. She looked disappointed, but Yami ignored it and ran off.

When he got to the shop, Seto came out holding a toddler under one arm. He walked over to Yami and thrust the child toward Yami. "Here. Take it."

Still confused, Yami took the child, Yugi, and asked, "What's going on? Can't handle him for a few more hours?"

"Change of plans. Apparently, there's a bad snow storm, and they're snowed in. They can't make it back tonight, and I can't stay here taking care of this thing any longer."

Yami chuckled. "Seto, he's just one kid! You have a younger brother, and you can't handle a three-year-old kid?"

Yugi interrupted, "I'm four!"

Seto grimaced at the boy. "I'm telling you, he's not human! He's a monster."

Yami shook his head and sighed, "Fine. I'll take over. Have you told his family you're ditching their kid?"

"Taken care of. Good luck. You'll need it." With that, Seto bolted off down the street.

Yami shook his head, laughing. He looked at Yugi and said, "Well, let's get you back inside."

An hour later, Yami knew what Seto had been talking about: The kitchen was covered in spilled sugar, milk, cookies, and Yami didn't want to know what else; toys were scattered all over the living room floor, including puzzle pieces, blocks, and a few broken pieces of toys; and don't get Yami started on the rest of the house—he didn't want to think about it!

"How could this happen?" Yami asked as he glanced around the house at the ruin Yugi left in his wake. "This place was spotless just a little while ago!"

Yami glanced at the little boy lying asleep on the floor. And how could this kid fall asleep so soon after destroying everything in sight? Yami had brought Yugi inside and placed him down on the floor. As soon as his feet hit the ground, Yugi had run to the kitchen and grabbed the cookie jar. He had eaten half of the contents, then thrown the rest on the floor. After that, he burst into tears. Yami tried to calm the kid down by saying they could make some more. Yugi's face lit up, and he quickly grabbed the milk from the fridge. Then he grabbed the sugar container, which he dropped on the floor before spilling the entire jug of milk.

With the kitchen thoroughly destroyed, Yugi moved into the living room (the cookies he had lost were completely forgotten). He started working on puzzles, but wouldn't sit still, and the puzzle pieces were scattered around the room within a matter of minutes. Giving up on the puzzles, he moved on to some blocks. Again, he wouldn't sit still, and he tried to build a city. Once he was finished building, he grabbed a stuffed dinosaur and had it destroy the town, scattering the blocks around the room. He trod on several toy cars while he was running amok, and he burst into tears when he realized that he had broken his toys. Yami was getting a headache, and he was failing to calm the kid down when Yugi stopped crying and fell asleep suddenly.

Now Yami was left with a serious mess to clean up. With a sigh, he picked Yugi up and carried him to his room. Once Yugi was tucked into bed, Yami started cleaning. If this was how the kid always was, he hoped the family would be home soon.

The phone rang. Yami picked it up. "Hello?"

"So you're the new babysitter? Yami?" a woman's voice said.

"Yes, that's me."

"How's Yugi? Is he doing all right?"

"Don't worry, Mrs. Mutou. He's fine."

He was about to ask if her son had ADHD or something, but the line went dead. Yami groaned, not looking forward to the rest of his time with this kid.

The next day, Yami woke to a small child jumping up and down on him. "Wake up! Wake up!" Yugi chanted as he broke Yami's ribs.

"Get off!" Yami bellowed at him. The boy's eyes watered, and Yami sighed. "Look, I'm sorry I shouted, but you really shouldn't be jumping on people. You could hurt someone. Okay, Yugi?"

Yugi nodded and grinned at Yami. "Can we go to the park? Please?"

Yami groaned as he rolled out of bed. The clock said that it was only seven in the morning. "Are you always up this early?" he asked Yugi. The boy just grinned.

A short while later, they were at the park. Yugi was playing in the sandbox with some other kids while Yami sat on a park bench, glad to see the kid not destroying everything in sight.

"Hey, Yami!" He groaned inwardly.

"Hello, Mana," he said dully. "I can't talk right now—I'm babysitting."

Mana glanced at the spiky-haired boy in the sand and said, "Is he your brother? He looks just like you."

Yami hadn't noticed this—he was too busy trying to control the kid to even realize that they had practically the same hair and the same eye color.

There was an outburst on the playground. Yami looked to see that Yugi had just been hit by one of the other kids. Yami got up to go deal with it, but Mana beat him to it. She walked right over to the kids.

"Hey, if you can't play nice, you have to leave," she said to the offending child. Then she turned to Yugi. "Are you all right?" Yugi nodded, sniffling.

Yami gawked at her. He hadn't known that she was at all good with kids. As Mana came back over, she grinned at the look of awe on Yami's face.

"I've done my fair share of babysitting. If you need any help, give me a call." She wrote her number on a piece of paper and handed it to Yami, who was determined not to call this girl no matter what. The last thing he wanted was an annoying foreigner showing up and making his job more difficult. He was sure she couldn't handle this kid any better than he or Seto could. She would just get in his way.

Yugi had watched this little exchange, and asked Yami about it on the way home later. "Who was that girl? Is she your friend?"

"No. She's a pest who's always trying to get on my nerves."

"Oh. Well, I liked her. Can she come over today?"

Yami glared at Yugi. "No. Never. She can never come anywhere near you or me. Not in the same room, not in the same building. Trust me, she's not what you think she is."

Yugi was quiet for a moment. "Maybe," he said finally, "she's not what you think."

Yami rolled his eyes, thinking that this kid could not possibly know anything about that pest.

Later that day, Yami was chasing Yugi around the house. There were feathers and honey all over Yami's body. Yugi had decided to "tar and feather" Yami, and the boy had sacrificed his mother's pillows to do so, along with several jars of honey in lieu of tar. Now, Yami wanted to strangle the kid.

"Get back here, you little brat!" he bellowed as Yugi bolted around the corner into his bedroom. Yugi slammed the door, hitting Yami hard in the face. Yami cursed under his breath, rubbing his nose. "Fine, stay in there!" He heard Yugi cry out in fear behind the door. Yami huffed and stormed off to get cleaned up.

Several hours later, when Yami had calmed down, he went upstairs to apologize to Yugi. The boy was sitting on his bed, but he jumped up and started apologizing as soon as Yami walked in.

"It's okay, Yugi. Just don't do anything like that again, okay?"

"Okay!" Yugi seemed thrilled that Yami wasn't mad at him anymore.

That didn't last long. Within an hour, Yugi had devoured every sugary thing in the house.

"Yugi, come on! Calm down already!" Yami pleaded with the child as he tried to get him to stop jumping on the couch; Yugi ignored him.

"Yami, look, I can fly!" he said as he jumped off the couch. Yami's eyes widened in panic. He darted forward and caught the boy just before he hit the floor.

"Okay, you, I think it's time for bed."

"No, I'm not tired!" Yugi wailed. "I wanna play! I wanna play!"

Yami fought with the boy and his sugar rush for half the night. Finally, Yugi fell asleep. Yami sighed and took Yugi to bed. Then, he checked the emergency numbers and found the hotel where the Mutous were staying.

"Hi, this is Yami. Don't worry, Yugi's fine. I was just wondering, when will you be able to make it back?" His eyes widened when Mrs. Mutou said that it could be another week before they were home. "A-alright. Thank you. Bye." He hung up the phone, and silently prayed that he could make it through the rest of his time with this crazy kid.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2! I have no idea how long this will be, but I'm just gonna go with it. XD Enjoy! I don't own YuGiOh.**

Yami groaned, banging his head into the wall repeatedly. How could one kid be such a pain? Yami had woken up that morning to find that Yugi had, apparently, woken up during the night. Bored, the boy had destroyed the house...again. Yami wondered how the boy's mother and grandfather could afford to keep this kid in the first place.

"Yami?" Yugi's eyes were filled with concern. "Are you okay, Yami?"

"I just want to know why. Why did you have to paint on the walls? Why did you throw food all over the kitchen floor again? And why oh why did you try to make macaroni and cheese by yourself in the middle of the night?"

Yugi smiled sheepishly. "I was bored. I was hungry. And my mom always makes it look so easy to make macaroni and cheese. She never caught the house on fire before."

Yami sighed and shook his head. "You're just lucky I found that fire extinguisher under the sink. Otherwise, you wouldn't have a house anymore."

"Sorry, Yami. I won't do it again."

"Uh-huh, keep saying that, kid," Yami muttered, not buying a word the kid was saying. They were sitting in the kitchen, which had been on fire moments ago. Yami had smelled smoke and, upon running into the kitchen, he found that Yugi had set fire to the kitchen counter. Luckily, Yami found a fire extinguisher under the sink and put the fire out before too much damage had been done. However, the Mutous would be needing a new counter. And Yami might be suing them for damages involved with taking care of this insane child. In fact, the Mutous would be lucky if he didn't sue.

Feeling a need to distance himself from Yugi's house-destroying, Yami decided to open the game shop. He may not have been authorized to run the shop, but maybe a mother would walk in if he was lucky. Then he could pass the babysitting job on to her, or at least ask for some help. So he grabbed Yugi and took him into the shop.

"You're not supposed to do that," Yugi said when Yami turned the sign on the door, inviting the world to come in.

"Just helping you're family. They aren't making any money this way, after all." Under his breath, Yami added, "And they'll need it with you around."

Yami actually found he rather enjoyed running the game shop. Yugi was well-behaved because he was distracted by the games in the shop, and there weren't a lot of customers. So far, this day wasn't too disastrous, aside from the kitchen fire that morning.

Then, as usual, the unwanted crept into Yami's day. All good things must come to an end.

Yami was watching Yugi fiddle around with some action figure that was sitting on the shelf when he heard the door open. He turned to greet the customer and froze. There she was, the biggest pain of Yami's life: Mana. And she had a friend with her. A taller girl with short brown hair and blue eyes. She was wearing a green and yellow checkered dress. Yami knew her: Anzu Mazaki. She was in his class at Domino High School. What was she doing with Mana?

"Yami! Hey, so this is where you've been the last few days. I was wondering." Mana looked at Yugi over in the corner. "And there's little Yugi-chan!" Yugi dropped what he was doing and ran to greet her.

"Mana!" he said with a smile. "What are you doing here?"

Mana laughed, picking up the little boy. "Just checking out what's here. Oh, Yugi, this is my friend Anzu."

Anzu smiled at Yugi, who waved at her with a huge grin on his face.

Yami cleared his throat and said, "Is there something I can help you with, girls?" He was really struggling to stay polite. This was the third day in a row Mana had managed to find him. She had to be stalking him—why else would she always be wherever he was?

"Nah, like I said, we're just looking," Mana said.

"Okay," said Yami. "Then get out."

Mana blinked. "Is this how you treat all customers?" she asked with a grin.

"Don't make me call the police, Mana. Because I will if I have to. Now get out."

Anzu laughed nervously. "Yami, what's wrong with you?"

"Nothing. I just know that the only reason you two are here is because Mana's stalking me! She's probably just friends with you so that she can find out more about me."

Anzu put her hands on her hips. "Full of ourselves today, aren't we?" she asked.

"I'm serious!" Yami exclaimed, pounding his fist on the counter. "I've seen her three days in a row, in places I don't usually go, and I doubt that's a coincidence, Anzu!"

Anzu just shook her head. Mana stared at Yami a moment before speaking. "I'm not stalking you. We're neighbors, and you weren't far from home when I saw you the other day."

"What about yesterday?" Yami demanded.

"That was just a coincidence, but today it's because Anzu lives nearby, and I met her at her house."

"And why did you do that? It gives you a bit of distance to travel. Did you plan to hang out around here? And do you seriously expect me to believe that you're 'just looking'? Get out!"

Eyes full of tears, Mana put Yugi down and looked at Yami. "Fine," she said. "I'll go. Don't worry. I won't bother you anymore." She ran out of the shop, crying. Anzu glared at Yami before following her out. Yugi pouted, looking at Yami.

"What did you do that for?" he asked. "You're going to regret that someday."

One look at Yugi, and Yami already regretted it. Something told him that this kid wouldn't forgive him anytime soon for making Mana cry. This babysitting thing was about to get a lot harder—if that was even possible.


	3. Chapter 3

**Well, here's the third chapter. I'm thinking there should only be one or two more. Enjoy! I don't own YuGiOh (as if anyone actually thinks that I do).**

Yami ran through the house, searching for Yugi. He had to find the kid before anything else was destroyed: The living room wall was his latest victim. Yami didn't know where Yugi had gotten a wrecking ball (he wasn't sure he wanted to know either), but he had to stop the kid before somebody got hurt.

As he ran through the house, he was shocked to find Anzu standing at the bottom of the steps. "You really shouldn't have treated Mana like that, Yami! She's going to get you back, and I will if she doesn't!" Suddenly, she morphed into his mother and started scolding him about being more respectful and responsible.

Yami woke up, screaming. Looking around, he realized that he was still in Yugi's house. The clock read 3:30. Yami leaped out of bed and ran downstairs, just to make sure Yugi hadn't destroyed anything.

It was okay. The living room was still standing. Yugi hadn't done anything. He didn't have a wrecking ball. It had all been a bad dream.

Yami knew why he had that dream: Yugi had been acting up even more since Mana had run out in tears. Like Yami had thought, the boy wasn't going to let him get away with it. What's more, Yami had started feeling guilty about the way he had treated her after she had left. Not that he could take back what he said, and not that he didn't still feel the same way, but he wished he hadn't told her.

"Yami, what's wrong?" Yami jumped, turning to see Yugi standing in the doorway rubbing his eyes.

"Nothing, Yugi. Go back to bed," Yami answered with a sigh. Yugi cocked his head, obviously not buying it.

"Tell me the truth, or I'll have to do something drastic."

Yami's eyes widened in terror. After setting the house on fire (by accident), breaking half the merchandise in the shop (on purpose), and sticking a rusty nail in the chair Yami was about to sit in (luckily, the phone rang before Yami sat down), what else could this kid do to him?

"No, please, I'm begging you, don't!" he begged, falling to his knees in front of this little nightmare. "I'll tell you! Okay? Just don't do anything drastic! Please!"

Yugi blinked. "Uh, okay, Yami," he said.

Yami sighed in relief. Yugi waited for an answer. Taking a deep breath, Yami said, "I feel bad about what I did to Mana. I mean, I still think she's crazy, but I shouldn't have said any of that to her."

Yugi grinned as if he had known Yami was going to say that. "Yeah, I knew you'd come around."

"It's not because of you, Yugi. I just... I feel like a real jerk, and I was acting like one yesterday, wasn't I?" Yugi nodded vigorously. Yami glared at the kid before going on. "I was mad at you, and I took it out on her."

Yugi blinked, a confused look on his face. "Wait a minute," Yugi said, "why were you mad at me?"

"You trashed the house the first day I was here, woke me up early the next day by jumping on my stomach, had too much sugar and tried to fly across the living room, and let's not forget that you nearly burned the house down trying to make macaroni and cheese in the middle of the night!"

Yugi blushed. "Sorry," he muttered.

Yami shook his head, sighing. Then, glancing at Yugi, he saw a gleam in the boy's eyes that he didn't like. "What are you thinking?" Yami asked cautiously, ready to run.

"I'm thinking," Yugi said slowly, "that you might want to call that number for help. Because things are about to get a lot worse for you." Yami didn't like the sound of that. At all.

"Yugi, get down here!" Yami called. Yugi had decided it would be fun to climb the shelves in the shop. Now he was standing on top of one, knocking off everything else that was up there.

"Make me!" Yugi answered with a grin. Yami ducked out of the way as a bowling ball came soaring at his head.

"Okay, where did you get that anyway?"

"The same place I got this dart set," the boy answered, holding up a rather sharp-looking dart, which he was aiming at Yami. Yami jumped out of the way when Yugi threw it.

"Hey! You could really hurt somebody that way!" Yami hollered. Yugi's only response: Another grin as he picked up another dart.

Yami had to get help. He ran to the phone, ducking another of Yugi's darts as he did so, and called everyone he could think of; Jonouchi wasn't home, Honda was on a date, and Seto just laughed at him when he asked for help with Yugi. Desperate now (Yugi had run out of darts and was moving on to an air rifle) he called a number he never thought he would: Mana's.

"Come on, pick up, pick up," he mumbled as he waited for an answer.

"Hello?" a male voice answered. Yami blinked. He had been hoping Mana would answer.

"Uh, hi, is Mana there?" he asked.

"That depends, who wants to know?"

"A friend, okay? A friend in desperate need of her assistance."

There was silence for a moment. Finally, the man said, "Alright, she's right here. Hold on a moment."

A second later, Mana's voice came over the line: "Hello?"

Yami dove right in. "Mana, it's Yami. Look, I'm sorry about what I said yesterday. I shouldn't have said any of it. But, please, please, please come over and help me! I swear he's going to kill me! He's got a gun!" To Yami, that sounded better than saying that it was an air rifle and that Yugi couldn't even figure out how to work it. Whatever got someone over here quick.

He was lucky. She told him she would be right there. Yami thanked her repeatedly before hanging up.

"Yugi!" he called. "Mana's coming!"

Yugi looked down at him. "Took you long enough to call her. I was beginning to wonder if you ever would."

Yami blinked at the kid. Yugi was climbing down from the shelf. "Are you telling me that you were trying to kill me so that I would call Mana?" Yami asked in disbelief.

"Yeah," Yugi said. "I told you you'd feel bad about what you said. And since you do, I figured you should call her and tell her you're sorry."

Was this kid seriously only four years old? Yami didn't know many four-year-olds who would think of something so devious.

"You're evil," Yami said simply. Yugi just grinned.

A few minutes later, Mana came running through the door. "Okay, what's...going...on...?"

She looked at the boys in confusion. Yami was calmly leaning on the counter. Yugi was innocently playing with some toys on the floor. This was not the scene that she had pictured.

"Seriously? I thought you wanted me to leave you alone, Yami. What's with the practical jokes? I seriously ran all the way here!"

Yami held his hands up. "I can explain."

"Then start talking," Mana growled.

Yami gulped. Maybe he would be better off with Yugi destroying everything. "Yugi was acting deranged. Can't you tell from the state of the shop?" Yami gestured at the merchandise scattered all over the floor and the darts sticking out of the walls. Mana looked around, noticing the mess for the first time. "He was doing it on purpose, trying to get me to call you. Because we need to talk." He took a deep breath before continuing.

"Mana, I really am sorry for what I said yesterday. I mean, I still think you might be stalking me, and I still think you're crazy, but I shouldn't have acted like that yesterday." Yami glanced at Yugi, wondering if maybe the kid was right about another thing. "It occurs to me that I probably don't know you all that well, so I shouldn't be judging you yet. So, if you aren't too mad, maybe you could help me take care of Yugi until his family gets back. That way, we can get to know each other a little better."

Yugi was smirking—Yami ignored this, waiting for Mana's answer. Mana sighed shaking her head, but she was grinning. "Well, I guess I could help you out. Something tells me that you aren't any good with kids, and I've done my fair share of babysitting, so you could probably use my expertise. Fine, I'll help."

Yami had never heard a more beautiful statement in his life: He didn't have to babysit Yugi alone anymore. Maybe Mana would make it easier—although he still thought that, most likely, she would just make things harder for him.


	4. Chapter 4

**And here's the last chapter. Pretty short, but there you have it. Enjoy! I don't own YuGiOh.**

Yami groaned when he heard a loud crash come from Yugi's room. He had known it wouldn't last; Yugi had been behaving unusually well since Mana had come to help. Now the kid was back to acting up. Mana had just put the boy to bed, and already he was up and active.

Yami headed up to Yugi's room, ready to deal with whatever disaster the boy was creating now. When he opened the door, however, he was shocked to find that Yugi's room was still intact. Well, aside from the toys scattered all over the floor, but Yugi and Mana were already picking those up.

"Sorry, Mana," Yugi was saying when Yami walked in. "I didn't mean to cause trouble. I'll go to bed now."

Mana laughed and said, "I'd really appreciate that, Yugi. And I'm sure Yami would, too." Mana winked at Yami, who just stared at her.

After Yugi was tucked into bed (for the moment—Yami was sure the kid would be up again soon) Yami and Mana headed back downstairs.

"How did you do that?" Yami asked. He needed to know how she had gotten Yugi under control so quickly. "What's your secret?"

Mana just laughed and said, "No secret. You just have to know how to handle those kind of kids."

"And where did you learn that?"

"I used to babysit for my neighbors when I was a kid. There were a lot of kids like Yugi in my neighborhood. Actually, some of them were worse." She gave another laugh, then added, "Besides, I used to act a lot like Yugi, according to my parents. They keep telling me all these horror stories of hospital bills and property destruction, saying my 'recklessness' nearly put them in the poor house."

Yami gaped at her. "You were like Yugi? That seems kind of far-fetched."

Mana shook her head, laughing. Yami hadn't noticed before, but she had a beautiful laugh. "Make up your mind. Do you think I'm crazy and likely to join Yugi in tormenting you or not?"

Yami grinned. "Well, I don't think you're going to destroy everything in sight with Yugi, but I still think you might be crazy." Mana playfully punched him in the arm. He chuckled.

The next day, the three of them were eating breakfast when they heard the door open. "Yugi, we're home!" a woman's voice called through the house.

"Mom!" Yugi cried gleefully as he jumped up and ran to greet his mother and grandfather. Mana and Yami followed the boy, Yami grateful that this adventure was finally over.

Mrs. Mutou looked at the two teenagers when they entered. "I don't remember leaving two babysitters," she said suspiciously.

Mana responded, "I was just helping Yami. He's never had to babysit any kids under ten." Yami glared at her, mildly insulted. She just grinned at him; he sighed, shaking his head as he felt a smile creep onto his face.

Mr. Mutou's face lit up. "Well, that was nice of you. I'm sorry if Yugi caused you two any trouble."

Mana smiled. "He was no trouble at all. Right, Yami?"

Yami almost told her to speak for herself and fell to his knees, begging the family never to leave this kid with an unsuspecting babysitter again, but instead he just nodded. "Yes, he was a perfect angel." Even years later, Yami would never understand why he had said that, considering the last few days.

Mana and Yami walked home together after saying goodbye to the Mutous. Yami suddenly felt free—he didn't have to worry about Yugi destroying anything while he was watching him anymore. He was free of all responsibility for the kid. Mana laughed, apparently seeing the relief on his face.

"Aw, come on, Yami. It couldn't have been that bad," she said with a laugh.

Yami sighed. "Let's just say I'm never babysitting anybody's kid again, no matter what. Even if the fate of the world depends on it."

Unfortunately, Yami found that he couldn't keep this promise to himself; a month later, he was back at the Mutous taking care of Yugi. All because Mana had talked him into it.

As he stood in the living room glancing at the ruin, Yami grumbled, "That's what I get for falling for a crazy girl."


End file.
